Susanne Klatten almost lost her honorary prize. As soon as the souvenir photo was taken in the Munich coat of arms hall, a powerful man with a beard took it BMW-Heiress took the heavy trophy out of his hands – and even started to lift it up. For trial purposes. It was Markus Söder’s moment. With this gesture on Thursday evening, the Bavarian Prime Minister (CSU) crowned his self-confident gig as a guest speaker at the “Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025” competition. “For me, the economy is a topic that is a matter for the boss,” Söder said. Moderator Judith Rakers felt compelled to briefly reassure the approximately 300 invited gala guests: “Mr. Söder only offered to carry the prize. He didn’t snatch it away.”
The head of state’s oops-here-come appearance was fitting for this celebratory evening. It was about determining the position of German entrepreneurship in difficult times. But it was also about a good dose of self-assurance and justifiable pride for everyone present in what they had achieved.
For the 29th time, the auditing and consulting firm EY and manager magazine are honoring the best owner-managed companies with the title “Entrepreneur of the Year”. medium-sized companies in Germany. The group that dined together in the flower-decorated former check-in hall at Riem Airport was correspondingly more illustrious – and celebrated entrepreneurship.
“What annoys me most is envy,” Söder told the audience. “Who are the do-gooders anyway?” Resolution: entrepreneurs. “We don’t have state capitalism like the Chinese, or stock market giants like them USA“But we have an extremely strong medium-sized company.” That is the decisive key for Germany. “Family businesses should be brought to the fore.” Of course, Söder hit exactly the right tone. After all, those who sat in the coat of arms hall had already demonstrated courage, foresight and social responsibility in their daily actions.
A room full of confidence
The twenty German finalists present in the EY competition alone represent almost 37,000 jobs and an annual turnover of around 14 billion euros. “Shape the Future with Confidence” was the motto of the award this year. And host Henrik Ahlers, head of EY Germany, invoked this confidence. Of course, the general conditions are “not ideal” and can often hardly be influenced. “But the 20 companies on stage show that it can succeed.” Germany has mastered the greatest challenges in history such as reconstruction, structural change and reunification. “Why so negative?” asked Ahlers. Now, however, it is important to resolutely defend “the most beautiful thing in Europe” and use it for business purposes: “Our civil liberties.” Ahlers received huge applause for this.
For the first time, the award ceremony took place in Munich; last year, EY hosted the gala in Berlin – and two days later the coalition collapsed. “Let’s go where the government is safe,” Ahlers joked. And Munich offered another advantage: the honorary award winner Susanne Klatten lives right around the corner. The supervisory board member of Altana and BMW was honored for her extraordinary entrepreneurial and social commitment. With the start-up company UnternehmerTUM, which she founded in 2002 and heavily finances, she is creating a German start-up ecosystem that is now a role model throughout Europe.
Laudator Stefan Heidbreder, managing director of the non-profit Family Business Foundation, praised Klatten for her “pleasant sobriety” and partnership with which she brings forward a culture of innovation. They are willing to copy the successful UnternehmerTUM model. “Ms Klatten wants to be top, but not lonely top.”
Susanne Klatten didn’t let the warm words carry her out of the curve. “You have to stay sober,” the 63-year-old gave insight into her mindset when it comes to decision-making processes when it comes to start-ups. “Check ideas, weigh them up, research” – that’s how she gets to her goal, not with blind enthusiasm. Otherwise the danger of falling for “vanity and overestimation of oneself” is too great. The billionaire described her role very modestly: “My drive is best described with the word ability.” She wants to help as many people as possible to lead a self-determined life through their talent and skills. “And that includes being able to start a company. All of the family businesses represented here in the room were once start-ups,” she reminded.
Innovations and ambitions
When it came to the evaluation by the six-person jury – led by Martin Dürrstein, CEO of Dürr Dental SE – the values stand Entrepreneurship
, Purpose, Impact and Growth in focus, explained Wolfgang Glauner, Head of Family Enterprise Markets at EY Germany. In addition to the business success and growth potential, the jury particularly looks at the positive impact on employees and society, i.e. on the company’s purpose.
The award was presented in four categories – and the following entrepreneurs made it to the top: Elke and Andreas Hartleif (Veka/Category: Family Business) supply window manufacturers all over the world with their plastic profiles. As a doctor and pharmaceutical entrepreneur, Clemens Fischer (Futrue/Innovation) is ready to declare war on chronic pain worldwide with cannabinoids and neurochips. David Reger (Neura Robotics/Young Companies) wants to make human-like helpers for household and care marketable in just a few years. Reinhard Schneider (Werner&Mertz/Sustainability) shows with brands such as Erdal, Emsal and Frosch that cleaning definitely rhymes with resource conservation. If you just want to.
Things go one step further for the robot manufacturer David Reger, who was represented at the awards ceremony by his COO Jens Fabrowsky. Reger gets a second chance to wear the tuxedo: he will represent the German colors with his humanoid robos at the final of the World Entrepreneur Of The Year next May in Monte-Carlo.
There, around 50 international winners of the entrepreneur competition will decide among themselves who will become the world champion in entrepreneurial excellence. And more than that, as Reger’s predecessor Sebastian Braun revealed. The creator of the Greifswald-based pharmaceutical company Cheplapharm raved about the great networking: “It was like being in a graduating class.” Since his Monte Carlo trip, he has naturally exchanged ideas with entrepreneurs from Chile, India and Finland via WhatsApp.
Competition in more than 50 countries
The readers of manager magazine were asked to serve as jurors for the audience award. “It wasn’t a head-to-head race,” explained Simone Salden, deputy editor-in-chief of manager magazin. Of the almost 10,000 votes cast, Reinhard Schneider, the brains behind the eco-brand Frosch, won a clear majority. With a small plush frog in his jacket pocket, Schneider not only set a fashionable counterpoint. The recycling pioneer used his dual stage presence to clearly go against the grain. “The petrochemical industry has no interest in plastic becoming new plastic again because then they can no longer sell petroleum.” Schneider also came with a simple tip for solving the often inhibiting chicken-and-egg dilemmas. “Wherever we find a chicken-and-egg problem, we lay an egg and hatch it.”
The “Entrepreneur Of The Year” competition was launched by EY in the USA in 1986. Since then, the competition has become established in more than 50 countries and is one of the world’s most renowned entrepreneurial awards.